Five books that changed my thinking...

I like books. So that means I have a lot of books. My wife would say I have too many books and that I don't need to keep buying more every time I walk into a book store. I thought I would share with you five books that have made an impact in my life in the last couple of years.

1. Community in Mission by Phil Needham

I read this book when I did my undergrad but it really spoke to me when I was working on my MA thesis. I now use this as a basic text for the revitalization process we are leading our church through right now.

2. Exclusion and Embrace by Miroslav Volf

I read everything Volf writes; he has become my theological hero! This book deals with reconciliation and forgiveness - the opening of yourself to others. It is a must read.

3. The Open Secret by Leslie Newbigin

This was one of the first books I read when I was first looking into the Theology of Mission. Any Christian that is interested in what it means to be missional in society today should read Newbigin.

4. The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

I had breakfast with Alan Hirsch about 5 years ago at a church planting conference. It was just him and me and another guy (I don't remember his name) and he was talking about this book he was working on. I got my hands on it when it came out and it really opened my eyes to what missional and incarnational ministry is really all about. Of particular interest to me was the concept of liminality and communitas that Hirsch touches on.

5. Exiles by Michael Frost

Frost and Hirsch wrote a book together called, The Shaping of Things to Come, which is a great book as well. In Exiles, Frost explores what it means to live missionally in a post-Christian culture. His work challenges the status quo so many Christians have settled into.

Here are the five books that are on my desk right now...

The book I just finished is The Ritual Process by Victor Turner. The reason I picked this book up is because Alan Hirsch quotes it in The Forgotten Ways; Turner is an anthropologist who studied liminality and communitas in African Tribes. I am fascinated with the concept of liminality and communitas and I think my doctoral thesis will focus on this cultural phenomenon as it relates to training individuals for ministry in The Salvation Army.

I know what you are thinking, I am a party waiting to happen. But it is important that we expand our thinking by reading more than just books written by mega church pastors or "easy reading" books by people like Max Lucado. There is nothing wrong with reading these types of books and they can be excellent for a personal devotional time, but every so often you should jump outside your comfort zone and really be challenged to understand something you didn't know before you picked up the book.

Happy Reading!

Lets Go Fishing...

Fishing has been a term associated with Christianity from the very beginning. A number of the first disciples were fishermen, Jesus used fishing boats to teach from, he told Peter that he would fish for men and so on. In the early church the fish symbol, like the one shown above, was used as a direction marker to show the way to the places where Christians met.

The ICHTHUS, that is the name of the fish symbol, derives its name from the Greek word for fish "ichthus" but there was a hidden meaning in the name. The ICHTHUS is an acrostic which means that each letter of the word represents another word and the acrostic of the fish was a creed of the church that we still use today. Here is the meaning of the ICHTHUS... I - Jesus (there is no "j" in Greek, only "i" but if it has a ' before the i it is pronounced as a j); CH - Christ; TH - God; U - son; S - Saviour. So when you see the fish symbol it is meant to be read as: "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour"

Over the years the ICHTHUS has morphed to become an identifying marker and today I can show I am a Christian by displaying the fish symbol on my car. BUT... what does it mean if I have a little fish symbol on my car? It should mean that the person who owns the car is a Christian and as such you can expect them to live a Christian lifestyle. It should mean that the person who owns that car has an answer for the hope that they have. (1 Peter 3:15) It should mean that you could follow that person to their fish bowl where they meet with the other fish people in your community and that you would be welcomed into that fish bowl. Of course we know that not all fish symbol people can say that this is true of them.

I have seen many Christians that display a "fish bowl mentality." What I mean by this is that they are quite content in the little bowl with their other fish bowl friends and they never see life beyond the fish bowl. They have the pastor feed them every week and then just swim within their little circle until the next Sunday when they are fed again. Unfortunately this is not the ultimate purpose of the church nor those who call themselves followers of Christ. There used to be an old Salvation Army practice called "fishing for souls" where members of the congregation would actively seek out the unbelievers attending Army meetings and lead them to a saving relationship with Christ. I am sure that is closer to what God is calling us to as his followers.

I like how Salvation Army theologian Phil Needham describes what it means to be a missional church. He states, "The missionary church, then, is nothing other than the church following its Lord, leading its sacramental life, travelling on its pilgrim way - and inviting others to do the same. Only as such is it an army of salvation commissioned for battle. Only as such is it engaged in warfare. For the church at war, there is no human enemy. In fact, persons are seen only as potential recruits. The enemy is sin in all its personal and social forms - all of which seek to destroy the God-given integrity of human life. As long as this battle for the human soul rages, the church will be commissioned for battle." (Community in Mission p. 64)

With the words of Needham ringing in my ears I have decided to adopt a new ICHTHUS symbol for myself that more clearly reflects my work in God's kingdom. Feel free to adopt it as well. No more passive, waiting for others to visit my fishbowl mentality for me!

Blessings!

Call Me 'Mikesy'...

I love Banksy. (If you don't know who Banksy is, Google it.) His art just seems to resonate with me and I am not really sure why. It is not particularly beautiful, its colours do not jump out at you and sometimes the subject matters are borderline offensive. But I like it.

The picture above is a Banksy and believe it or not it is a very controversial piece of art. Why is it controversial? It is because Banksy painted over the work of another street/graffiti artist named Robbo. Robbo was THE graffiti artist in London back in the day and the art Banksy covered up was one of the last original Robbo pieces from the 1980's. The art pictured above started a graffiti war between Banksy and "Team Robbo" that is still raging today on the streets of London.

Here is the Robbo art Banksy painted over.

At the heart of the war is "Should the 'new' artist Banksy cover over the art of the 'old' artist Robbo?" and both sides have their proponents. It is up to you to decide which appeals to you more, the new Banksy or the old Robbo.

There is a war raging in society between the new and the old and whether or not the new should "paint over" the old. Should new music paint over old music so that the old is gone forever? Should new architecture paint over the old so that communities loose their distinctiveness? And we could go on and on.

In the church a similar war rages when a congregation enters a revitalization process. Should the new way of doing church paint over the old way so that the old way is no longer visible? That is a tough question and you would be able to find people on both sides of the argument to fight for what they believe to be right.

For me the answer comes down to one word - MISSION. Is the church accomplishing the mission they have been called to by God? If the old church is involved in missional work within their community, then why change it? But if the old church is more concerned with the traditional work in the church rather than the missional work in the community, then it is time to get out the paint brushes! That being said, don't start changing the old with something new if the new will not help the church be involved in mission. Not all new things are missional.

Let me give you a very practical example that most churches have discussed at one time or another - music. The worship wars of traditional vs. contemporary music have been going on for 20 plus years. Some church leaders have argued that they need to change the music in the church to something the younger generation can relate to while others have held firm to the notion that the classic hymns of the church are the only proper expressions of music acceptable in the church. What they are arguing about is musical preference rather than missional objectives. It is possible to have traditional music within a missional church just as it is possible to have contemporary music in a non-missional church. If your church is involved in mission, you will discover the style of music that resonates with the people you are reaching. You have to be willing to change if it is not the style you are currently using.

Change is hard but all great things in the world have come about because change occurred. The difficulty is deciding what to change and what not to; what do we paint over and what do we keep? That is a decision that has to be made by each congregation but I would warn all of them to make sure if you are painting over the old, make sure that the new is concerned about mission. Don't paint over the old to just freshen it up a bit so it looks the same with a new coat of paint.

Blessings!

Not My Gift...

One of the most eye opening experiences I ever had during my faith journey was the discovery that God had supernaturally endowed me with spiritual gifts. The bible makes it very clear that at the moment of conversion we are given spiritual gifts that are to be used to help build God's kingdom. (1 Corinthians 12 for example) This revelation happened while I was working on my undergrad degree and I completed all the spiritual gift surveys I could get my hands on to try and discover the gifts God had given me.

As I completed the inventories, I secretly hoped that I had some gifts more than others (just like the Corinthian Christians)because I saw some as more important than others. I remember that I did not want the gift of "martyrdom" (which was on one survey I completed) because I figured it was a gift you could only use once and I was not anxious in using it! In the end I was happy with my gifts, although I can not remember them now.

When I went to The Salvation Army Officer Training College there was a lot of talk about using your spiritual gifts in ministry, so once more I filled out the survey to see what gifts I had. I scored high in apostleship, leadership and teaching and very low on the caring gifts (not too much of a surprise to my friends). With the understanding of what my gifts were I was now going out into the world to exercise those gifts in the churches I would pastor.

Then something incredible happened... I was appointed to a place where my gifts were not appreciated and really not used. In fact, my ministry was centered more on the caring gifts that I scored so low on. So I had to learn how to be more caring and how to listen and how to be hospitable. I really didn't like it, but I did it.

At my next church I thought for sure that I would get to use my gifts in ministry like they taught us in Training College, and I did. But although I was gifted in apostleship, leadership and teaching; I had never developed the gifts I had. So for the next three years I worked hard on being better. I also discovered that in the course of my ministry I had to do work that was not in my gift mix at all. I had to do administration, counseling, hospitality, evangelism and sometimes what seemed like martyrdom!

A move to Niagara Falls in 2001 allowed me to use my gifts on a continual basis for 11 years and to develop and hone them even more. I attended national conferences on church planting and taught at other events to train future church planters in a variety of denominations. And even while I was doing all that, I still had to do ministry that was not in my gift mix.

Today, I still have the gift of apostleship, leadership and teaching. It is these activities that get me excited to do ministry. But, I am also a pretty good at the caring ministries that I am not gifted in because of the ministry I have had to do.

I encourage everyone to find out what your spiritual gift is because it is the one thing that will bring you the most joy in life. I also want to encourage you to do things outside of your gift mix because God can use you there as well. Never say you can't do something because it is not your gift.

Revitalization...

The picture above can be seen two ways: 1. It is a person with a vision of what the landscape could be, or 2. It is a person looking at the current landscape through the picture of what it once was. How you see it depends on your perception of what is real.

Now if you are one of the people who falls into group 1, it is obvious to you that the current reality is a bleak landscape with little to no life present. You see the need for something to be done to transform the current reality into a perceived future that is green and growing. People in group one can not understand how people in group 2 can't see the desolate landscape they are in.

People in group 2 remember when the land was green and vibrant and since they only see the picture of the past, they have no reason to think that it is any different. Their only perspective is looking at a representation of the good old days and when people in group 1 try to convince them of the reality of the situation, they think the group 1 people are the ones without an understanding of the current reality. There is nothing that the people in group 1 can offer that is more beautiful than the view that they are staring at.

In the end each group is frustrated by the other because of their refusal to see the world as it truly is.

I am a group 1 type of person because I am always looking at what things could be rather than what they are. I am especially this way when it comes to churches. I see a lot of churches that could be so much more than they are right now if they would just put the picture of the "good old days" down and look at the situation they are currently in. There are many congregations that need to undergo a revitalization process to help restore some of their former glory and become part of the ongoing mission of God in their community.

Jesus talks about revitalization in Matthew 23. In this passage we see five characteristics that are present in churches that need to be revitalized.

Characteristic #1: The people in the church strive for honorary titles and the praise of people. In verses 5-7 Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for doing everything for show and looking for the praise of people rather than the praise of God. If the people in your church see certain positions in the church as something to strive for and if they place the people in those positions on a pedestal, then you have a problem because they are more interested in "my kingdom come" than "Thy kingdom come."

Characteristic 2: The people in the church substitute the love of God for rituals. Jesus warns about looking good on the outside but being dead inside (vss. 25-26). This happens in the church when we have a check list of things we need to do if we are to be a true church. We need to have certain music groups, certain bible studies, certain kid programs and when we worship on Sunday there is another list of items that must be in the program. Individuals check off the things they do in the church and they look at their activity as time with God, but it is just time at church. What tends to happen in churches that have this second characteristic is that there is no passion for God and when there is no passion for God then there is no passion for people, especially people outside of the church.

Characteristic #3: The people in the church elevate secondary traditions to a place of prominence. Jesus cannot believe that the church leaders are placing secondary items to be of greater importance than the primary sources of tradition. In vss. 25-26 we see that the Pharisees are placing things on the altar or in the Temple as being more important than the altar or the Temple. In our churches this is a problem when we put an emphasis on secondary things like what we wear or items in the church as being more important than a love for God. People love traditions and we tend to give traditions "godly" qualities so that it is difficult to eliminate them.

Characteristic #4: The people in the church are more concerned with ritual than the love of others. In verse 23 Jesus gives an example of how wrong the church leaders are when he says that they tithe their spices but forget about justice. You are way to concerned about rituals if you are going through your spice rack and giving 10% to the church! Now that is an absurd thing to do and very few people in the church today would do such a thing, but there may be other rituals that are emphasized in a similarly absurd manner. Let me give you a real life example. A visitor comes to church and before the service starts he goes outside to have a cigarette. The gentleman is about 20 feet from the front door when the head greeter pops his head out and tells the man he will have to leave the church property if he is going to smoke. The head greeter (oxymoron in this case) believed that since the church frowned on people smoking that it was his duty to make sure that people do not smoke on church property. That is ritual being more important than people.

Characteristic #5: The people in the church are more aware other people's sins but not their own. This is what Jesus says in Matthew 23:2-3 ...

"The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach." (New Living Translation)

If people in your church are more concerned with the sins of the people outside the doors of the church than the sins of the people inside of the church, then you have a problem. You have a group of people who are looking at a picture and do not have a concept of what is real. The Gospel makes you aware of your own sin and allows you to see the plank in your own eye rather than the speck of dust in the eye of someone else.

Unfortunately, most congregations that are in need of revitalization will not see any of these characteristics in themselves because they always seem to think the criticism of Jesus is focused on others but not them.

Revitalization is about repentance and without it a new work can not start because it is through repentance that God allows us to see what is real.

Blessings.

Reaching Your Limit...

I saw this exact phrase on a church sign the other day, The Sky is the Limit, and it made me think "Well isn't that nice, its wrong, but it is nice." Too many people and their churches get caught up in this lie as they try and plan for the future. They believe that the sky is the limit when they are thinking of doing something great for God, but I say if that is your thinking then you are thinking way too small.

You see, the sky should not the limit of our thinking for anything in life, especially as it relates to the mission of the church. I can say this with all confidence because of a little secret I learned a long time ago... and this is the secret:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us,..." Ephesians 3:20

What this means is that God is able to do way more than our feeble minds could ever imagine, so why are we setting a limit to our thinking? You should be setting such big goals and plans that they are doomed to fail if God is not in them. The sky is not your limit!

Its just not another bad news story...

Perhaps you were like me and riveted to the events that unfolded on April 15, 2013 at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. As the news of the terrorist style attacks became known, major news agencies focused all their programing to cover the events in Boston. I found myself watching the news as if it were a TV crime drama or a made for TV movie and I fully expected that the bad guys would be caught before the end of the program.

It is only in the days since the attacks that we have seen the devastating affects of the bombings - lives lost, horrific injuries and individuals whose lives will never be the same. We also have had an ongoing commentary about the suspects and their lives - who they are, where they are from, did they have help and are there more bombings still to come. The number one question on everyone's mind is, "Why?" Why did these men do this?

On Thursday, April 18 the news was awash with the headline "Bombing Suspect Killed in Shootout" and my Facebook and Twitter feeds said "One down, one to go." TMZ tweeted, "Dead bombing suspect heavy into hip hop." I'm not sure if that is relevant news but it was reported on. Then on Friday we watched as the second suspect was caught after a day that saw all of Boston shut down. The end of another bad news story.

But this is more than just another bad news story because it should cause us to think about the issues surrounding the story. Those who call themselves followers of Christ should examine their attitudes about terrorist acts and the people who perpetuate terrorism. How many Christians felt bad for the victims of the bombing and then wanted revenge on the perpetrators? Is wanting revenge right? How many Christians rejoiced when one of the attackers was killed in a shootout with police? Should we rejoice over the death of an individual, especially the death of someone Christ himself died for?

One author I read a lot of (and I would encourage you to do the same) is Miroslav Volf. Dr. Volf is a theology professor at Yale and in his recent book, A Public Faith, he has this to say about Christianity and violence,

"Thin" but zealous practice of the Christian faith is likely to foster violence; "thick" and committed practice will help generate and sustain a culture of peace.
(p. 40)

A thin faith, according to Volf, is a faith that serves primarily to energize, heal and give meaning to the business of life for the believer whereas a thick faith maps the way of life of the believer based on strong ties to the ongoing tradition of faith and clear cognitive and moral content. Thin faith is self centered while thick faith is other centered.

There are no irredeemable people in the world and no one has the right to close the path of redemption on another.

Blessings.